Goodparts Co.

The Goodparts Company produces a component that is subsequently used in the aerospace industry. The component consists of three parts (A, B, and C) that are purchased from outside. Parts A and B are assembled first on assembly line 1, which produces 140 components per hour. Part C undergoes a drilling operation before being finally assembled with the output from assembly line 1. There are in total six drilling machines, but at present only three of them are operational. Each drilling machine drills part C at a rate of 50 parts per hour. In the final assembly, the output from assembly line 1 is assembled with the drilled part C. The final assembly line produces at a rate of 160 components per hour. At present, components are produced on a basis of eight hours a day and five days a week. Management believes that if need arises, it can go for a second shift of eight hours for the assembly lines.

For questions 1-3, you will find it useful to draw a process flow diagram for the process.

1. What is the process capacity (number of components produced per week) of the entire process?

2. Suppose a second shift of 8 hours is run for the assembly line 1 and the same is done for the final assembly line. In addition, four of the six drilling machines are made operational. The drilling machines, however, operate for just 8 hours a day. What is the new process capacity (# of components produced per week)?

3. Management decides to run a second shift of 8 hours for assembly line 1 plus a second shift of only 4 hours for the final assembly line. Five of the six drilling machines operate for 8 hours a day. What is the new capacity?